2013

I'm really ready for 2014.  I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to hit the end of a year, or so optimistic about the year to come.  It's not that 2013 was a bad year.  I got to see a lot, try a lot, do a lot.  I accomplished my New Year's Resolution with aplomb.  See one new place: San Francisco.  Try three new things outside my comfort zone: skydive (that should count for two), leading a small faith-sharing group with total strangers (I know it doesn't sound like all that much of a stretch, but trust me), asking a guy out (started with promise, ended up going over like a lead balloon, don't ask).

And there were a ton of other really awesome moments: Mass on top of a 14er, a killer going-away party from my top-notch coworkers, snowmobiling the Continental Divide, speaking at a couple of conferences (that counts as outside my comfort zone too), a long overdue trip back to Omaha, some good craft time, some good craft beer time, Laura moving home, volunteering, etc.

So I can't figure out why I'm so ready to move on, why 2014 is calling my name so urgently.  Part of it is the really awesome stuff in store (Nicaragua, Ireland, Nashville), part of it is a need to settle into the new job and reassure myself that I made the right decision, part of it is the looming big 3-0.  But if I've ever ended a year so completely convinced that I have the best support crew to help me with the transition, this would be it.  So, raise your glass to hope.  Here's to a great 2014!

7 Days Off

Still not sure what to think about the new job.  Several days through my first stretch, I had a dream that I was asked for dosing recommendations for enoxaparin in an obese 10-year-old.  Something I would ordinarily jump at, but something that, unfortunately, is not likely to be part of my new job.  There are a lot of things that I loved doing clinically that will not be part of my new job.  The part I'm going to have to figure out is how to make the job as much as it possibly can be.  The part I've already figured out is how to maximize my weeks off.

In 7 days, I've managed to:

• ski my first day of the season without falling
• snowshoe a gorgeous trail up to the top of Squaw Mountain
• try a new brewery, visit one of my favorite bars, and tour the Stranahan's distillery
• celebrate Christmas with the fam, kick everyone's butt at Mexican Train
• see two movies in the theater and another two from Redbox
• vacuum, laundry, give the dog a bath
• cook Greek meat pies, veggie mac 'n' cheese, breakfast burritos, and sausage & sweet potato soup
• see Zoo Lights
• finish a couple books
• work out just enough to not feel like a slug
• get my refrigerator fixed (hooray!)
• do a little self-indulgent shopping

The only thing lacking was catching up on sleep.  That's gonna make 4:45am come really early tomorrow, but I'm taking things in baby steps.  Ask me in another month how the job is going.  In the mean time, the time off is going really well.

Goodness, Truth and Beauty

Hard to believe it's been 2 1/2 months since I've blogged.  Not much I've wanted to say, I suppose.  But as a community is grieving, having just returned from a prayer service for the Arapahoe family, I am a little overwhelmed by a surprising sentiment.  Through the tragedy, the tears, the sorrow, the hurt, I am reminded over and over of a God who is bigger than all of that.  The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  The reminders have not been big revelations.  I don't know where this community will find hope.  I don't know what positive things will come from this horrific event.  But the little things are everywhere for me.  At the prayer service, I just kept seeing the goodness, truth and beauty in my life.  Fr. Mel cracking jokes in the pew behind us.  Members of my extended family, at my second home, greeting one another with fierce hugs.  Power of Love sung beautifully, with meaning I've never heard before.  A powerful display of what prayer can do.  Dolly Parton on the radio on the way home.  You know, little things.  But they point to my foundation, my hope, my passion, and my purpose.  And I don't want to forget that.

So, I am proposing a challenge to myself.  Every day, I will write down one thing of truth, one thing of beauty, and one thing of goodness that I find throughout my day.  I'll try it for a week, a month, hopefully a year.  Because I want to let those things be the last thing on my mind as I fall asleep.  I want those things to be the first thing I remember when I wake up.  I want them to be the reminder throughout the mess of the day that our God loves us with a powerful love, and that nothing can separate us from that.  Nothing is more important than that.  Nothing is more worth fighting for.